Thursday, October 25, 2012

Remembering: The Battle of Agincourt

October 25, 1415 English forces under King Henry V stand their ground between two wooded areas, only a thousand yards wide.

Henry V placed his 1,500 men at arms in the center of the line, and split his eight thousand longbows to the wings.

Sharp stakes were placed in front of the archers veering them towards the center, through freshly plowed land that had been turned to mud by rains.

Facing them were at least twenty thousand French troops, centered around at least 2,400 heavy cavalry.

Confident of victory, the French nobles argued amongst themselves who would get to be in the front lines of the charge.

The French forces rushed forward, finding their archers unable to match the range of the English longbows.

As they were struck down by English arrows they were also squeezed close together by the sharpened stakes.

Once the centers finally met, the English were fresh and the French tired from marching through mud and arrows.

French troops found themselves pushed in so close to each other that they couldn't raise their weapons to fight the English.

Eventually the French broke as their reinforcements fled, seeing so many of their number falling in what they thought would be a short, easy day.

By the end of the battle more than six thousand French were killed, including many nobles.

Only four hundred English troops lost their lives.

The battle is still considered one of the most valuable lessons in military history.

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